Mud wiper



a 7 4 c. s. PENFIELD ET AL 2,215,377

MUD WIPER Fiied May 2, 1939 Invemors-Lharles 5. Penfield Fig 4 Urban Morqon Warren Patented Sept. 17, 1940 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE MUD WIPER.

Charles S. Penileld and Urban Morgan Warren,

Bakersfield, CaliL, assignors to Shell Development Company, San Francisco, Calif a corporation of Delaware Application May 2, 1939, Serial No. 271,384

3 Claims. (Cl. ass- 1) This invention relates to wiping devices for rerubber is centrally pierced with a hole 2, the dimoving fluid adhering to tubing as it is withdrawn ameter of which is preferably less than the outfrom the well and pertains more particularly to side diametg of the tubing or drill pipe to be wiping devices for removing mud fluid adhering wiped. The rubber disc I is held between two to the tubing, or drill pipe. rigid, e. g. steel, brass or similar metal, rings or 5 Many devices have been proposed and are comring plates 3, clamped together adjacent the cirmercially available which remove oil adhering to 'cumference of said disc I by any suitable means. the tubing and are commonly known as 'oil- Thus, for example, the two ring plates 3 may be savers. These generally are constructed similar bolted together by means of bolts 4 as shown in to a stuffing box and consists of a relatively --it lie? drawing. The clamping surface of said rings 1.: bulky housing clamped to the casing or casingoi; plates 3, is relatively narrow in order to permit head and containing several packing sections, free movement of the flexible disc I in a direcsuch as rubber blocks shaped to flt the tubing, tion perpendicular to the face of the disc. The

, and held rigidly against the tubing to strip the thin disc I may likewisebe made of an elastic maoil therefrom. terial other than rubber such as canvas, rub- II For removing oil from the tubing or cable, these berized canvas, etc. and has an optimum thickoil-savers can be used satisfactorily. However, ness of about one inch. they are inapplicable for removing mud from a In placing the disc in service it is slipped over tubing being withdrawn from a well containing a the drill pipe as the drill pipe string is suspenddrilling mud. When used for the latter purpose, ed by slips in the rotary table; the drill pipe is 20 the rubber packers are quickly torn away and picked up by the elevators, the slips and rotary disintegrated due to a lack of the oil film to act table bushings removed and the mud wiper'forced as a lubricant between the rubber packers and downward on the drill pipe to aposition just bethe tubing and due to the solid particles from the low the rotary table. After the bushings have mud fluid wedging therebetween. Further, the been reinstalled'in the rotary table, the mud wiper 25 wear and tear on the rubber packer is aggravated is ready to operate. This arrangement is shown by the rigidity of the oil-saver installation. in Fig. 4, wherein 6 is the rotary table, I is the Due to these disadvantages and the cumberblowout preventer, 8 is the drilling riser, and 9 someness in handling, replacing, and adjusting indicates the bushings in the rotary table. As the these oil-savers, it has been general practice to drill pipe is raised, upward movement of the 30 remove mud from the tubing by spraying a stream wiper with the drill string is blocked by the rotary of water on the pipe as it is withdrawn from the table bushings and the pressure of the flexed well} However, the water stream system has the rubber disc is exerted against the drill pipe as obvious disadvantage of diluting the drilling mud shown in Figure 3 and which removes the fluid by the addition of the wash water. mud from the outside of the drill pipe. Due to 35 It is therefore, an object of this invention to the thin, flexible nature of the wiper, no bindprovide a simple mud wiping device adapted to ing between the rubber and the tubing or pipe can ride on the drill pipe, which device can be easily take place as in an oil saver which has large ruband inexpensively installed. ber faces forced against the surface of the pipe.

0 Other objects and advantages of the invention Due to a coming action (shown in Figure 3) of 40 will become apparent during the course of the the rubber disc forming a small contact face befollowing description taken in reference to the tween the wiper and the tubing, the present dedrawing wherein: vice permits rapid and substantially complete re- Figure 1 is a plan view of the mud wiper. moval of mud adhering to the drill pipe without Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line danger of binding or jamming of the solid con- 45 2--2 of. Figure 1. tent of the mud fluid between the contact faces Figure 3 is the same view as Figure 2, showing and subsequent tearing and disintegration of the the device in wiping position (slightly exagelastic wiper. gerated for clearness of detail) about a section By the use of the mud wiper herein described,

of drill pipe. many advantages are obtained. Among others, 50

Figure 4 is a view in elevation showing the mud the performance has been found to be decidedly wiper installed between the rotary table and blowmore satisfactory than the previously used water out preventer. stream method for mud removal as its operation Referring to the Figures 1 and 2 of the drawis entirely automatic and its use eliminates the ing a thin, preferably circular sheet or disc I of dilution of the mud fluid through addition of 55 pact, easily installed and inexpensive.

It is to be understood that the use of the two steel ring plates 4, which serve to stiffen the assembly and assist in holding the device in position below the rotary table, may be dispensed with while retaining a good portion of the merits of the invention. Likewise, various changes in the size and shape of the different parts, as well as modifications and alterations, may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. A wiping device for removing mud adhering to the tubing being withdrawn from a well containing drilling mud, said device comprising a relatively thin flexible disc of elastic material, and means for freely supporting said disc by friction in a slightly conical wiping position about said tubing, said means comprising a central perforation of a diameter slightly smaller than that of said tubing, allowing said diseto fit tightly about said tubing, and two relatively heavy metallic rings clamped together about the circumference of said disc, said circumference being substantially greater than that of the central perforation.

' '2. A wiping device adapted to be freely mounted between the head of the casing and the rotary table on tubing being withdrawn from a well containing drilling mud, said device comprising 2,215,877 wash water. Further, the device is simple, coma disc of elastic material and means to support said disc by friction on said tubing in a normally slightly conical wiping position, said means comprising a central perforation in said disc adapted to grip said tubing, and a relatively heavy metallic frame clamped about the circumference of said disc, the path of free travel of said device during tubing manipulating operations being limited in one direction by said casing head and in the other direction by said rotary table.

3. A wiping device for removing mud adhering to the tubing being withdrawn from a well containing drilling mud, said device comprising a relatively thin flexible disc of elastic material,

and means for. freely supporting said disc by friction in a slightlyconical wiping position about said tubing, said means comprising a central perforation of a diameter slightly smaller than that of said tubing, allowing said disc to fit tightly about said tubing, and a relatively heavy metallic annular frame fixedly carried by said perforated discnear the outer circumference of said perforated disc, the inner circumference of said annular frame being substantially greater than the circumference of the central perforation of the disc.

CHARLES S. PENFELD. URBAN MORGAN WARREN. 

